1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pull printing system using an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in order to print a document or the like produced by using a user terminal such as a personal computer, a printing method has been employed in which a print job is temporarily stored in a server machine instead of being sent directly to a Multi Function Peripheral (MFP) that prints the document.
In the case where, for example, a plurality of users share a plurality of MFP's, and the individual users send print jobs for documents or the like from their own terminals, the print jobs sent by all the users are temporarily accumulated in a server machine.
Each of the users goes to the installation site of the MFP to be used for printing, and operates an operational panel or the like to instruct the MFP to perform printing, and thereby, the MFP prints a document or the like. This is called pull printing.
According to the pull printing, a user can obtain a printed matter instantly because he/she selects an available MFP from among the plurality of MFP's to cause the selected MFP to perform printing. Further, the pull printing ensures the security of a printed matter because the printed matter is less likely to be left unattended and be carried away by somebody else.
Since a server machine is shared by a plurality of users in the pull printing, the following problems may occur. In particular, when many print jobs are sent to the server machine all at once, a load imposed on the server machine is increased, so that the server machine is less responsive. In the worst case, the server machine may go down.
To cope with this, a technique has been proposed in which a plurality of servers are used to distribute loads imposed thereon (see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-099714).
However, a load imposed on a server machine is hardly beyond the capability thereof during the operation. This is because a server machine is generally used which has the capability to sufficiently withstand a load imposed thereon during the operation.
Stated differently, a situation under which a load on a server machine is increased is limited. In particular, a server machine is probably overloaded at the time when the operation of a system is started. This is because almost all of the users may send print jobs at the same time.
If a load imposed on the server machine can be reduced at the time of the start of operation, few problems arise for operation.